Resurgent Royals ready for Sunrisers in Qualifier 2 at the Bullring
Royals have been boosted with the arrival of Rovman Powell
The Betway SA20 Season 4 Qualifier 2 will be a repeat of last season when Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Paarl Royals face off at the Wanderers on Friday evening for a place in Sunday’s coveted Final.
Sunrisers were comfortable victors at Centurion last season, winning by eight wickets, but the tables have been turned this year heading into the all-important clash.
Two-time champions Sunrisers must shake off a defeat to Pretoria Capitals in Q1, while Royals dismantled JSK in the Eliminator at Centurion on Thursday and will be buzzing with confidence at the Bullring unlike 12 months ago when it was in reverse.
The Royals' victory was particularly significant for it was their first Betway SA20 playoff/knockout victory in five attempts, while they also showed good character to bounce back from losing to the same JSK outfit earlier in the week in the final group match.
“It was a tough one to take, probably not one we wanted to be playing in the third and fourth playoff after the first eight games,” said Royals allrounder Asa Tribe.
“We thought we could get right in the top two but look we ended up in this position and we fought back after a tough loss last game.
“The momentum is with us. They're off the back of a loss. We're flying high.”
The Royals have also strengthened their squad with West Indies all-rounder Rovman Powell which could add significant firepower to their middle-order.
Powell replaced mystery spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, who was called up for international duty with Afghanistan.
Sunrisers, meanwhile, find themselves in the unfamiliar position of having lost a playoff match, but assistant coach Russell Domingo is confident they can bounce back on Friday evening.
“We know the areas we need to get better at, coaches as well. Certain things we can maybe do a little bit differently. So good lessons for all of us,” Domingo said.
“We know we are a quality side and we've played really good cricket. I think all our games we've lost have been like in the last over. So, we've been competitive in all our sort of losses. They've all been really close.
“So, we're not far off, nothing drastic, nothing major, just a little bit of tinkering here and there.”
The winner of this evening’s Qualifier 2 will face Pretoria Capitals in the Betway SA20 Season 4 Final at Newlands on Sunday, January 25.
